Evaporator unit

Abstract

In an evaporator unit for a refrigerant cycle device, an evaporator is connected to an ejector to evaporate refrigerant to be drawn into a refrigerant suction port of the ejector or the refrigerant flowing out of the outlet of the ejector. The evaporator includes a plurality of tubes in which the refrigerant flows, and a tank configured to distribute the refrigerant into the tubes or to collect the refrigerant from the tubes. The ejector is located in the tank, and the nozzle portion is brazed to the tank to be fixed into the tank. The tank may be a header tank directly connected to the tubes or may be a separate tank separated from the header tank.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application is based on Japanese Patent Applications No. 2007-276241 filed on Oct. 24, 2007, and No. 2008-193153 filed on Jul. 28, 2008, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to an evaporator unit for a refrigerant cycle device with an ejector.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]JP-A-2007-192465 (corresponding to US 2007 / 0163294 A1) proposes an evaporator unit for a refrigerant cycle device with an ejector. In the evaporator unit, the ejector having a refrigerant decompressing function and a refrigerant circulating function is located inside a tank of an evaporator so that the ejector and the evaporator are integrated. Thus, the ejector and the evaporator can be mounted as an integrated unit, thereby improving a mounting performance of the refrigerant cycle device with the ejector.[0004]In the evaporator unit, after an evaporator body is integr...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005]In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to improve the productivity of an evaporator unit while reducing the manufacturing cost of the evaporator unit.

[0006]It is another object of the present invention to improve the compatibility of an ejector relative to evaporators with different widths.

[0007]According to an aspect of the present invention, an evaporator unit includes an elector and an evaporator. The ejector has a nozzle portion configured to decompress refrigerant, and a refrigerant suction port from which the refrigerant is drawn by a high-speed refrigerant flow jetted from the nozzle portion. The refrigerant jetted from the nozzle portion and the refrigerant drawn from the refrigerant suction port are mixed and discharged from an outlet of the ejector. The evaporator is connected to the ejector to evaporate the refrigerant to be drawn into the refrigerant suction port or the refrigerant flowing out of the outlet of the ejector. Furthermore, the evaporator includes a plurality of tubes in which the refrigerant flows, and a tank configured to distribute the refrigerant into the tubes or to collect the refrigerant from the tubes. In addition, the ejector is located in the tank, and the nozzle portion is brazed to the tank to be fixed into the tank. Accordingly, the assemble work of the evaporator unit can be made simple as compared with a case where the nozzle portion is assembled to the evaporator after the evaporator is brazed. Therefore, the productivity of the evaporator unit can be improved while the manufacturing cost of the evaporator unit can be reduced.

[0013]In the evaporator unit, the tank may be configured to extend in a tank longitudinal direction and to have therein first and second spaces partitioned from each other in the tank longitudinal direction, such that the first space of the tank is configured to distribute the refrigerant into the tubes, and the second space of the tank is configured to collect the refrigerant from the tubes. In this case, the refrigerant inlet of the nozzle portion is located in the first space, and the refrigerant outlet of the nozzle portion is located in the second space. Furthermore, the evaporator unit includes a refrigerant inlet provided at an end portion of the tank on a side of the first space in the tank longitudinal direction, and a nozzle inlet pipe located in the first space of the tank. The refrigerant inlet of the nozzle portion communicates with the refrigerant inlet of the end portion of the tank through the nozzle inlet pipe. Furthermore, one of the nozzle portion and the nozzle inlet pipe can be inserted into the other one of the nozzle portion and the nozzle inlet pipe. Accordingly, the compatibility of an ejector relative to evaporators with different widths can be improved.

[0015]According to another aspect of the present invention, an evaporator unit includes an ejector and an evaporator. The ejector has a nozzle portion configured to decompress refrigerant, and a refrigerant suction port from which refrigerant is drawn by a high-speed refrigerant flow jetted from the nozzle portion. The refrigerant jetted from the nozzle portion and the refrigerant drawn from the refrigerant suction port are mixed in the ejector and discharged from an outlet of the ejector. The evaporator is connected to the ejector to evaporate the refrigerant to be drawn into the refrigerant suction port or the refrigerant flowing out of the outlet of the ejector. Furthermore, the evaporator has a plurality of tubes in which the refrigerant flows, and a tank extending in a tank longitudinal direction that is in parallel with an arrangement direction of the tubes to distribute the refrigerant into the tubes or to collect the refrigerant from the tubes. In the evaporator unit, the tank is configured to have therein first and second spaces partitioned from each other in the tank longitudinal direction, the first space of the tank is configured to distribute the refrigerant into the tubes, the second space of the tank is configured to collect the refrigerant from the tubes, the nozzle portion has a refrigerant inlet positioned in the first space and a refrigerant outlet positioned in the second space, the tank has a refrigerant inlet on a side of the first space in the tank longitudinal direction, and the refrigerant inlet of the nozzle portion communicates with the refrigerant inlet of the tank via a nozzle inlet pipe located in the first space of the tank. Accordingly, by suitably adjusting or setting the length of the nozzle inlet pipe, the ejector can be used for various links of evaporators having different widths in the tank longitudinal direction. Thus, the compatibility of the ejector relative to evaporators with different widths can be improved.

[0019]According to another aspect of the present invention, an evaporator unit includes an ejector and an evaporator. The ejector has a nozzle portion configured to decompress refrigerant, and a refrigerant suction port from which refrigerant is drawn by a high-speed refrigerant flow jetted from the nozzle portion. The refrigerant jetted from the nozzle portion and the refrigerant drawn from the refrigerant suction port are mixed in the ejector and discharged from an outlet of the ejector. The evaporator is connected to the ejector to evaporate the refrigerant to be drawn into the refrigerant suction port or the refrigerant flowing out of the outlet of the ejector. Furthermore, the evaporator includes a plurality of tubes in which the refrigerant flows, and a header tank configured to distribute the refrigerant into the tubes or to collect the refrigerant from the tubes. In the evaporator unit, a separate tank is located to be partitioned from the header tank while contacting the header tank. In addition, the ejector is located in the separate tank outside the header tank, and the nozzle portion is brazed to the separate tank to be fixed into the separate tank. Accordingly, the productivity of the evaporator unit can be improved while the manufacturing cost of the evaporator unit can be reduced.

Problems solved by technology

Therefore, the productivity of the evaporator unit may be deteriorated, and the manufacturing cost of the evaporator unit may be increased.

Furthermore, the ejector is difficult to be used for evaporators with different widths (i.e., different dimensions in a tank longitudinal direction), thereby reducing the compatibility of the ejector relative to the evaporators with different widths.

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